Red Hills

The Salt Fork of the Arkansas River rises in Comanche County, Kansas. Two other Kansas Rivers, the Medicine Lodge and the Chikaskia, join the Salt Fork downstream in Oklahoma. Southwestern Barber County, Kansas. August 30, 2016.

I waited on the Hackberry Road bridge over the Salt Fork of the Arkansas to see what the minutes after sunset would bring. About thirty seconds after this photo, the orange color simply evaporated. Southwestern Barber County, Kansas. August 30, 2016.

Just a few minutes before sundown, the red-gold of the bison and the grass was striking. The pumpjack on the hilltop seemed of a different century. South of Aetna, Barber County, Kansas. September 26, 2009.

The Little Basin, about 280 yards in diameter and 35 feet from rim to floor, contains St. Jacob's Well, a small permanent pool of water about 84 feet in diameter that has never been known to go dry. In the Big Basin Preserve, western Clark County, Kansas. October 23, 2006.

The Big Basin Prairie Preserve is 1,818 acres on native mixed grass prairie west of Ashland, Kansas. Big Basin is a large circular depression about one mile in diameter and about 100 feet deep. Clark County, Kansas. October 23, 2006.

This layer of stratocumulus clouds advanced from the northwest like a quilt being pulled over a bed. As the red sun was setting, it painted the underside of the cloud layer. West of Medicine Lodge, in Barber County, Kansas. October 11, 2006.

This layer of stratocumulus clouds advanced from the northwest like a quilt being pulled over a bed. I drove south and east until I was in the sun ahead of the advance. West of Medicine Lodge, Kansas. October 11, 2006.

The Medicine Lodge River rises in Kiowa County, Kansas, and flows through Barber County, past the towns of Belvidere, Sun City, Lake City, and Medicine Lodge. Southeast of Medicine Lodge, Barber County, Kansas. October 17, 2003.

Galleries

Drawing the Covers

This layer of stratocumulus clouds advanced from the northwest like a quilt being pulled over a bed. I drove south and east until I was in the sun ahead of the advance. West of Medicine Lodge, Kansas. October 11, 2006.